Dollar coin,central bank of the united states, Publisher Circle plans to increase its headcount by 15-25% in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal, as layoffs are being made across the industry.
While a slew of industry-wide companies are laying off workers to ease their financial woes, Circle is bucking the trend and hiring more.
41% of all layoffs in 2023 will come from the cryptocurrency industry. Major cryptocurrency firms that have slashed staff include Polygon, Chainalysis, Bittrex, Huobi, Crypto.com, Coinbase, Gemini, Genesis and Wyre.
A big factor behind the layoffs at crypto companies was the long crypto winter and several crypto implosions that wiped billions off the balance sheets of numerous affiliated companies. However, massive crypto industry layoffs are not isolated. In January, just four companies laid off about 48,000 people: Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce.
The decision to add to Circle’s workforce came months after canceling its public debut. In December 2022, Circle jointly terminated plans to go public with Concord Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The deal was announced in July 2021 at an initial valuation of $4.5 billion, then amended in February 2022 when Circle's valuation ballooned to $9 billion. Circle’s chief financial officer, Jeremy Fox-Geen, said they still intend to go public but are waiting for better market conditions. He added that the crypto industry needs to move away from the implosion of Terra and FTX in order for public market investors to reassess the future of digital asset businesses.
By the end of 2022, the stablecoin issuer had about 900 employees and plans to increase its headcount by 135-225 in 2023. However, headcount growth will be slower than in 2022, when headcount will more than double from 2021 levels.
Circle’s USDC is now the second-largest stablecoin after Tether, with a market capitalization of $42 billion.
